Transcripts For WUSA CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley 20140129

Intelligence tell you about potential threats . Captioning sponsored by cbs this is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. Pelley good evening. The gridlock is breaking tonight after something that is not supposed to happen did. In an area called the sun belt in a city known as hotlanta, ice caused a meltdown. The winter storm that brought snow and ice to the south yesterday stranded thousands bumper to bump hour after hour an roadslippery cars and tr get traction. Some people spent the night in supermarkets and kids slept overnight on the floors of their schools. More than 1,200 traffic accidents were reported in georgia alone. Mark strassmann is in atlanta for us tonight. Mark . Reporter scott, im standing along i 285 south of atlanta. This traffic has just started inching forward but mostly its been at a stand still. Remember, some of these drivers are still trying to finish last nights commute. Oh, my god. Reporter state road 400 north of atlanta looked and sounded like this last night. tires whirring by dawn, nothing had changed. Traffic was frozen on all three of atlantas major highways. 2 00, theyre talking about opening up the road. Reporter juan rivero was hauling bananas to chicago when he got stuck west of atlanta at 11 00 a. M. Yesterday. Hes still stuck more than 30 hours later. Nothing against the south, im from the south, were just not prepared for this type of regular oregularweather basis. Reporter schools, businesses and government offices closed early and at nearly the same time. In less than an hour. Traffic went from 20 miles an hour to a standstill. Salt and sand trucks could not get through to treat the roads. We made a mistake by not staggering when people should leave. So ill take responsibility for that. Reporter atlanta majorca seem reed. If we had to do it again, we would have said schools first, private sector businesses, you go second and government goes last. Reporter in fulton county, 99 school buses filled with kids were still on the road at midnight. At least 2,000 other students spent the night at school. Mark kneenilson walked six milek up elizabeth from kindergarten. The georgia governor sai it was stronger than expected. But the National Weather service told us its forecast was spot on and that they issued the first storm warning 21 hours before it started. Good to go . God bless you. Absolutely. You, too. Reporter we found jessica and Chris Hartzog handing out food and water on the interstate. Oh, jess, are you okay . Reporter chris was standed last night for nine hours. There were folks stranded, especially pregnant folks, folks with small children and we were just trying to bring them some food, water. Reporter many abandoned their cars to take shelter in stores or restaurants, including this hardys where 60 people spent the night. These roads will stay frozen at least through noon tomorrow, scott, when temperatures are expected to climb into the low 40s. Reporter Mark Strassmann in atlanta for us, thank you, mark. Joining us now is the mayor of atlanta, kasim reed, mayor since 2010. Mr. Mayor, thanks for joining us. First question has everyone been rescued . The answer is no. Everyone. In the city of atlanta is fine, but we still have interstates that are blocked and congested and have frozen ice so were working to clear up the interstates right now with our state partner. Pelley mr. Mayor, you learned some bitter lessons as mayor of at than in 2011 when there was another big ice storm that had a similar effect. Why was this ice storm not handledded any better than 2011 . Well, scott, i would push back on that. We here in day one of this snow event and we have our city moving again with the exception of the freeways. During 2011, that was a fourday event that had much worse results than this. Pelley so you would say that the situation in the city of atlanta, which youre responsible for, is what now . I would say that its significantly improving. 80 of our roads are passable. We had zero fatalities. We had very few major vehicle accidents. We had 797 police responses. Our hospitals remained open. Our fire stations remained open. And our Police Precincts remain open. And one day into a very severe storm event our city as you can see by your camera shot is functioning and is going to be ready for business within one day. Pelley mayor kasim reed of the city of atlanta. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for taking a minute to be with us. No, thank you, scott. Pelley now, reporter mike paulska of a cbs affiliate was in the thick of it last night and heres how he reported it. It smells like a nascar race. It is just burning rubber in the air and people with nowhere to go. You think that with all the gas theyre using and all the power theyre using that theyd be able to break free but, look, theyre not breaking free. Im going to stick the microphone out and stop talking so you can hear what were hearing. It sounds bad. tires whirring pelley and mike paluska is joining us now from atlanta. Mike, what was that like last night . It was difficult to see, scott, because we saw so many people in need, they were getting out of their cars, they had children in backseats of their cars and they were freezing cold. They werent dressed for this type of weather because we werent anticipated to get this type of weather. There were a lot of kids that were getting out of the cars and pushing people and trying to get them off of the downtown connector. Behind all the people lined up on this nascar line where they were burning rubber you had all of the people behind it for miles back to the end of i dont know where it went trying to get just to the point on that bottleneck on the connector. So far so good today. Its a lot different today. Pelley mike, things look a whole lot better behind you now. Tell me how things has improved. Reporter this is the 17th street bridge and theyve salted it and put sand on it. It started to dry out. Weve had wind here and its drying out but the problem tonight that were facing is this ice here. They didnt treat these roads and so this melted because we had all of that sun during the day and now this is starting to refreeze as our temperatures start to dip back down. That is a major concern for tonight for motorists and there are a lot of them still traveling and trying to get home on the roads tonight. Pelley but by the weekend its supposed to be more than 60 degrees there. Mike paluska of our station in atlanta, wgcl. Thank you, mike. The weather map tells the whole story. There will be another day of freezing temperatures tomorrow morning before the break begins. Then the mercury steadily raises right into the coming weekend. Officer Timothy Sheffield of the sandy springs, georgia, Police Department was heading to an accident when he spotted an s. U. V. I saw the driver standing over on the passengers side and it didnt look like it was stuck so i just got out to check on him and i asked the driver, i said are you okay . And he very calm, he was on the phone with 911, he said no, were having baby. And i said okay. The baby started to come out, the head came out and then the father started to pull and i could hear them say dont pull as i was telling him dont pull because we were trying to help him and as soon as we said that she pushed one more time and the baby came out. Today was my birthday so it was like what a birthday present to be a part of that. Reporter nick and amy anderson say they named their baby grace, as in by the grace of god. It was snowy at the capitol last night when the president delivered his state of the union speech and called on congress to raise the minimum wage. Does that idea have a snowballs chance . Heres nancy cordes. Reporter 16 hours after the president s address, the senates democratic leader harry reid vowed to quickly bring a bill to the floor that raises the federal minimum wage by nearly 3 from 7. 25 an hour to 10. 10 an hour. Well, all the democrats support it. Reporter but republican legislators are less enthusiastic. Do you see that happening this year . You know, its hard to say. Its probably unlikely. Reporter minnesota congressman eric paulson argues hiking the minimum wage will cause businesses to hire fewer workers to save costs. From my perspective one size fits all is not necessarily the way to go. Reporter it was the way to go for his constituents, john soranno and john puckett who own the pizza chain president obama highlighted last night. John just gave his employees a raise to ten bucks an hour. Reporter punch pizza is a nearly 20yearold chain that employs 250 people at eight locations. We were finding as we grew we didnt have enough new people that wanted to come join us and its after we announced the 10 starting wage our applications are about this high. Reporter how much does it cost you every year to pay people this much more . Well, its going to end up costing about 3 million over the next ten years. Reporter they think it will pay off through higher productivity and less turnover. Thats true for kerry albinson who has worked at punch pizza for a year and a half. It makes me want to stay here and do a really good job and represent this company. Reporter the white house thinks this issue will be a political winner. According to the most recent cbs news poll, scott, 72 of americans believe its a good idea to raise the federal minimum wage to 10. 10 an hour including 48 of republicans. Pelley nancy, thanks very much. If you missed it last night, there was a remarkable moment toward the end of the president s speech. Mr. Obama recognized Army Sergeant first class Cory Remsburg who suffered a serious brain injury in afghanistan on his 10th deployment overseas. cheers and applause cheers and applause pelley that ovation lasted nearly two minutes. Later, there was a far less dignified moment with a congressman from staten island, new york. In an interview, republican Michael Grimm declined to answer questions about an investigation into possible finance violations by his campaign. He walked away but then he came back. Pelley congressman grimm also told reporter Michael Scott toe ill break you in half like a boy. Today grimm apologized saying he should havent lost his school. Today the Federal Reserve said it is going ahead with plans to ease up on its economic stimulus. It will cut monthly bond purchases starting next month from 65 to 10 billion. Wall street didnt like that much. The dow lost 189 points today to close at 15,738. Today a new medical study drew a link between testosterone supplements and heart attacks. Millions of men take testosterone, so we asked dr. Jon lapook tol more. Reporter an analysis by u. C. L. A. Of insurance claims for more than 55,000 men looked at the rate of heart attacks within 90 days of starting testosterone. In men 65 and older, the risk more than doubled. Many men younger than 65 with a history of Heart Disease the risk almost tripled. Testosterone treatment is only f. D. A. Approved for conditions linked with socalled low t. Documented low testosterone levels. But many men without low t are being treated for a variety of symptoms such as fatigue and diminished libido. A study earlier this month found 43 of men receiving the hormone had a normal level. Cardiologist dr. Steve nissen of the cleveland clinic. We dont know very much about this therapy. Whats going on is a giant experiment with american mens health at stake because we dont have the longterm data on the safety of these products. Reporter annual prescriptions for testosterone more than doubled in just four years to 430 million thanks in part to advertisements like this. I have low testosterone. There i said it. I. Once it appears on television with seductive ads that make men think its the fountain of youth youll see a lot of offlabel usage. Reporter one possible way testosterone might be causing problems is by increasing clotting within arties supplying the heart. The f. D. A. Told us right now heart attack is not on the warning label and that the agency is reviewing todays study. Pelley dr. Jon lapook, thank you very much. From the air, land, and sea well take a look at the unprecedented security for the super bowl. A cruise ship returns with hundreds of sick passengers. And the pope becomes a superhero when the cbs evening news continues. [ male announcer ] coughequence 10. Speechless. To the bride and. [ coughs ] [ all gasp ] [ male announcer ] robitussin dm max now comes in a new liquidfilled capsule. Nothing provides more powerful couelgh rief. Robitussin. Dont suffer the coughequences. I love chalk and erasers. But change is coming. All my students have the brand new surface. It has the new windows and comes with office, has a real keyboard, so they can do real work. They can use Bing Smartsearch to find anything in the world. Or last nights assignment. And the battery lasts and lasts, so after school they can skype, play games, and my favorite. Do homework. Change is looking pretty good after all. Change is looking pretty good after all. 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Reporter its a multifront security challenge for new York Police Commissioner bill bratton and f. B. I. Assistant director george vinizelos. Were about this everyday here in new york. It just puts more of a focus on it. What does the latest intelligence tell you about potential threats . Were not picking up any direct threats against the event itself but please be aware, you notice that backpack that somebody drops and walks away from. Reporter in the Boston Marathon attack last april there were two backpacks with bombs. There was no warning before the explosions. Vinizelos worries about a similar homegrown lone waffle attack. Thats probably our big concern is somebody not on the radar whos just determined to do something and determined to do it any time they porsche. Nicknamed the p1, Ferdinand Porsche built it in 189. It weighs all of 286 pounds. In its day, it had a cruising speed of 22 miles an hour and, would you believe it . It has an electric motor. He wears robes not a cape, but the pope has become a superhero. Were off to rome. Next. Then we add allnatural eggs. Lean antibioticfree ham. And vermont white cheddar. Get 16 grams of protein and 23 grams of whole grain in the breakfast power sandwich. I took medicine but i still have symptoms. [ sneeze ] [ male announcer ] truth is not all flu products treat all your symptoms. What . [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus severe cold and flu speeds relief to these eight symptoms. [ breath of relief ] thanks. [ male announcer ] youre welcome. Ready . Go. Evening news for tonight. For all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. Captioning sponsored by cbs this is bruce johnson. Coming up new exclusive developments into the federal investigation into mayor vincent grays 2010 campaign. Reporter lots of us love costco, so does the president. Im bruce leshan. Well tell you why coming up. Reporter im scott broom at the mall in columbia, maryland, coming up the just released details from the personal journal of mall shooter darion aguilar. Good evening. Im jan jeffcoat. Im derek mcginty. Wusa9 s learned the u. S. Attorney for the district is preparing to move on a major figure in that probe of mayor vincent grays